Jcc Woman Sues Ex-neighbor After Fire

Blaze Damaged 3 Town Homes

May 07, 2003|By PATTI ROSENBERG Daily Press

JAMES CITY — A Kingsmill woman is suing her former next-door neighbor for $1.5 million, saying she was hurt by a fire caused by her neighbor's negligence.

The fire started in a sofa in the breakfast nook of Phoebe Ellett's town house on Wareham's Point the evening of Jan. 16, 2002, said the James City County Fire Department. The fire was confined to the breakfast nook, though Ellett was taken to Williamsburg Community Hospital to be treated for burns.

Firefighters remained on the scene until 1 a.m., and Kingsmill police did hourly checks for the next four hours, authorities said.

However, less than 12 hours after the first fire, the town house was on fire again. Flames were shooting through the roof by the time it was discovered and help arrived. Damage to Ellett's town house and the town houses on each side, including one belonging to Vivian and Carrington Herbert, was estimated at more than $1 million. The Herberts are the ones who filed the lawsuit.

Their attorney, Matthew Smith of Newport News, said investigators determined that discarded smoking materials caused the first fire, and the second fire was a direct result of the first.

Fire officials said smoking materials were considered the likely cause, but they couldn't conclude that for sure. Ellett smoked cigarettes, and the burn pattern was consistent with a lighted cigarette falling on a cushion and burning downward, an investigator said.

The cause of the second fire was undetermined, another investigator said. He said it began in a different area than the first, and it's unlikely that it resulted from the first fire rekindling or from the same cause.

Ellett was still hospitalized when the second blaze broke out. Her insurance company has told her that she is not legally liable for it, she said.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court, says Vivian Herbert has suffered "physical injury in the form of stomach, lower abdominal and gastrointestinal pain and discomfort," as well as "emotional injury" that has been diagnosed as "acute situational anxiety."

Vivian Herbert declined to comment, referring questions to her attorney, who declined to elaborate on the nature of her injuries. Herbert did not appear to be physically injured at the scene, according to a fire department spokesman.

She expressed relief to a reporter that day that she and her kitten were both all right, though she was visibly shaken.

"I thank God I'm here seeing this, and I'm not in there," she said. "It could be that you didn't have anyone here to talk to."

Patti Rosenberg can be reached at 223-5686 or by e-mail at prosenberg@dailypress.com